It's that time of the year again, where we try and scrape $60 in anticipation of the latest mind numbingly adrenaline rush that is Call of Duty. It's hard to believe that Black Ops is going to be "Call of Duty 7" So I decided to look back upon the franchise and look at how the games have evolved, because just in casual conversation with some friends at school people forget that there were 3 Call of Duty's before the mega-hit Modern Warfare came out.

So in the beginning there was Medal of Honor. You mean that shit game that came out a little bit a ago? No I mean the awesomeness that was "Frontline" and other titles that slowly withered to nothingness, but that's another story. This story focuses on Call of Duty the PC shooter that sneaked (quick English lesson that I just learned, snuck isn't actually a word.. who knew?) onto consoles to compete in the mess of World War II FPS's.

Call of Duty, came out onto the PC on October 29, 2003. Developed by Infinity Ward, much praise was given to this new game as it feature new ways to play. Many features that became staples in the later games, such as "looking down the sights" to increase accuracy, and squad support throughout the level were well received. Unlike all other Call of Duties, this game features a health bar, with health kits be dispersed through out the levels. Overall the game was a huge success on the PC and was rated in the 90's by most critics. A year later the game was brought to the Gen. 6 consoles (GCN, PS2, Xbox) as "Call of Duty: Finest Hour," again developed by Infinity Ward, where this game suffered a different fate. This game was not well received by critics, as it was not a direct port of the PC title, but a new game created for the consoles. Many of these critics said that the game was "lost in translation" from PC to console. This is the first CoD game I played, and wow I must have either sucked balls at games or this must have been a tough game because I remember dieing a lot in this game.

Then the Xbox 360 came out, and it was time for Call of Duty 2, which again was developed by Infinity Ward, and was released on October 25, 2005 for the PC and November 15, 2005 on the Xbox 360. As this was the very beginning of Gen. 7, another game titled "Call of Duty 2: Big Red One" (made by Treyarch) was released onto the Gen. 6 consoles. Anywho Call of Duty 2 was a launch title, and to this day stands out to me as one of the better installments in the series. Infinity Ward picked up on the things that didn't make Finest Hour the smash hit it was supposed to be and improved. The health bar was abolished and picked up the style used to this day, where if you regenerate health if shot after a certain amount of time. Overall this game was very well liked receiving many high scores similar to the PC version. I had many fun hours of campaign and Xbox Live multiplayer.

Then a year went by and all of a sudden, Call of Duty 3 was out on November 7, 2006. However, this time the relatively unknown Treyarch developed the game. There isn't a whole lot to say on this game besides that this was Treyarch's introduction to the mainline CoD series, as not too much was changed. 3 wasn't anything monumentally new like what Call of Duty 2 was. I do remember spending a lot of time with David playing a certain map over and over because we would camp with LMG's in a hallway and kill anybody who walked by...yea we were noobs.

Then a divine miracle happened, Infinity Ward decided that it was time to come out of the 1940's and jump all the way to 2011. On November 5, 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released. Strangely, I don't particularly remember that much hype about this game. But once I started playing, I was hooked. The campaign was epic, while a little confusing at first, once I understood the main concepts it became simple. The sheer magnitude of the events going on was immense, as you were fighting World War III. Then there was the multiplayer. The addicting fun of trying to "level up" your character was a welcomed addition. An even newer idea was the "Create-a-class" to which I don't believe was in any other online FPS's at the time. Finally you could choose what weapons, perks and other accessories your character wanted, and you could easily switch between them. Kill streaks were also new, rewarding players for staying alive. With out Modern Warfare, Call of Duty would not be the blockbuster franchise it is today. I remember spending the entire summer of 2008 playing this game, it such an amazing game and to this day one of my favorite shooters.

Nazi + Zombie = Mandatory to Kill

Then the return of Treyarch (see a pattern here?) in November 11, 2008 was met with mixed reception. It was a good game in my opinion, more of the same but just back in the 1940's plus it had Nazi Zombies. World at War had it's cool moments, storming the Reichstag and putting the Russian flag on top is still one of the greatest video game moments imo, but I think though World at War was fighting a losing battle from the beginning though in the sense of 'How do you top Modern Warfare?' To me the newness of World at War wore off after a few months and the game just lost its fun, while Modern Warfare was still the exact same awesomness it always had been. Nazi Zombies was only so much fun after a billion play throughs. One factor that is impressive, when I consider how World at War sold about 1.4 million copies in the first month, was that this game came out 4 days after Gears of War 2, and whether you like World at War or not, we all know which was the better game.

Then all of a sudden a year passed and it was the day of reckoning on November 5, 2009... it was Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, arguably the most hyped sequel of any video game yet. The midnight release for the Gamestop in St. Augustine was in all seriousness a quarter of a mile long. Classes on the 5th were unusually small that day as many people were "sick" and I'm pretty sure the reason I got out of English early is because my teacher wanted to go buy the game. MW2's multiplayer was supposed to be everything Modern Warfare is, then plus some...but as many soon learned, too much of a good thing sometimes turns out to be bad. Now I'm not saying that MW2 is bad, it's my favorite right behind Modern Warfare, but anyone who has played this game can't not say that they weren't pissed at Hackers, boosters, campers, Javelin glitchers, Noob tubers, Grenade whores, heartbeat sensor users, modders, etc.. I never before hand felt like I was playing a game in where more people cheated the game than there were actual honest players. It is really sad to see what people will do in order to get cool gun mods or flashy titles. Campaign wise the game was amazing. A superb narrative that was broken up from same old running and gunning with interesting vehicle levels and cut scenes such as the International Space Station.

Finally the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops is due for release in a week on November 9, 2010. Developed by Treyarch, it will be a good game, but if the past is any indication, not to the level of Infinity Ward's CoD's. There will be many cool new modes, like a theater similar to Halo's and the new Zombies, in which you can play as either Kennedy, Nixon, McNamara, or Castro and defend the Pentagon from a zombie attack. These are all cool add on's which I can tell will be immense fun. What I'm slightly hesitant is on the core game itself. So far Treyarch's campaigns have been underwhelming. Call of Duty 3 wasn't anything to write home about and World at War was so so. Treyarch's got some balls to do a Cold War setting, as"technically" nothing went on, but doing so allows Treyarch to create a narrative instead of relying on history; which is exactly what Infinity Ward did for MW and MW2.

Now you can be an informed consumer!

In regards as to whether purchase Black Ops or not, look to the past as an example. I'm sure that Black Ops will be a good game, just think a little before you go rush out and buy it at the midnight release. Treyarch has always copied Infinity Ward, and if they copy MW2's multiplayer, people may get easily annoyed again at the liitle things again such as kill/death streaks and crazy weapon attachments. More importantly, I don't think Treyarch's editions of Call of Duty have ever lived up to they're hype. So tread carefully my friends and think before you buy.